By Sandra Marroquín –
A Christian Pakistani man accused of burning one of Islam’s holy books was shot by his neighbors. He died later in a hospital.
“The assailants broke the door of my brother’s bedroom on the first floor of the house and held him and his family hostage at gunpoint,” said his sister, Goshi Yaqoob, 33, as quoted by Morning Star News. “They opened indiscriminate fire on him, riddling his body with 16 bullets in the presence of his wife and minor children.”
Pakistan is currently experiencing a rash of unjustified attacks on Christians. The Muslims whip up angry mobs of vigilantes and mis-apply the nation’s anti-blasphemy laws. They lynch or burn them, often based on false charges.
Two months before being killed, Marshall Masih, of Pakistan’s Lahore city, had filed a complaint on his neighbor for firing gunshots in a threatening manner near his home and for harassing Christian women.
The neighbor was arrested by police but then released, and he is now accused of killing Masih in revenge.
“I was horrified to see his blood-soaked body lying on the floor while his wife and children were huddled in a corner crying frantically,” Yaqoob told CBN. Masih left behind a 10-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old with his wife. He was sole provider for the family, including for his elderly parents.
David Curry, CEO of the persecution watchdog Global Christian Relief, says the recent spate of anti-Christian attacks almost always originate from false accusations.
“In all these years I’ve been doing this, I don’t remember a case that seemed at all legitimate,” Curry told CBN. “It’s just very common that there are false charges brought.”
In another case, Catholic Dennis Albert stepped off his rickshaw and unknowingly stood on pages of the Koran that happened to by lying on the ground. A passer-by saw he was standing on pages of the Koran and began shouting and riling up a mob, who attacked him. The 35-year-old Albert tried to explain in vain that it was all a misunderstanding.
His attorney, Asad Jamal, called the charges against his client “ridiculous, to say the least. There’s nothing that proves that Dennis has committed the act intentionally. It seems that some individuals and groups have launched a campaign to target innocent people with blasphemy charges.”
In another case, a group of people sit on death row for sending texts in English saying that “Muhammad wasn’t God.” But the accused are illiterate and didn’t have a cell phone, Global Christian Relief’s Curry said. “So, everything about the accusation was clearly and patently false.”
Pakistan is an Islamic Republic with an Islamic Constitution. They laws make blasphemy – speaking against Allah, Mohammed or the Koran – an offense punishable by civil society. The stiffest penalty is the death sentence.
But Curry has hope that Pakistan can emerge from the Dark Ages of law.
Curry said it’s important for Christians around the globe to bring together their “collective voice to put pressure on Pakistan.” He noted the nation wants to be part of the business community, encouraging people to shine light on these injustices so people within Pakistan stand up and change these behaviors, Faithwire reports.
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About this writer: Sandra Marroquin studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near South Central Los Angeles.
